Investigators speak to three witnesses of UGA library fire

Posted: Tuesday, July 29, 2003

By Joe Johnsonjoe.johnson@onlineathens.com

Karin Stubenbaum, a Spanish major at the University of Georgia, studies Monday at the Law Library. Stubenbaum said she prefers to use the Main Library and studied there every afternoon before the Wednesday fire that has shut the facility down.

Investigators have located and spoken with three potential witnesses to the arson fire that last week heavily damaged the University of Georgia's Main Library, UGA Police Chief Chuck Horton said Monday.

Horton would not say whether any of those questioned have been ruled in or out as suspects in the intentionally set Wednesday blaze that caused about $1.5 million in damage.

He would not disclose what, if anything, was learned from those interviews, which took place late last week and Monday morning.

The university police chief said any information investigators can get from people who were in the library at the time of the fire will, if nothing else, help investigators piece together a timeline of events.

''We know there were probably 250 patrons using the library that day, so there may be someone out there who might not think they saw something significant, but we'd still like to talk to them anyway,'' Horton said. ''Don't think you'll be wasting our time. If you were on or around the second floor, and even if you didn't see anything, we would be willing to talk to you.''

The fire was set in a second-floor storage room, which served largely as a repository for U.S. government documents, but also housed some books and computer equipment.

The three who have been interviewed by investigators were among several people UGA police were seeking as potential witnesses. Two of those with whom police spoke came forward on their own after learning police were looking for them, Horton said, and the third was located after a third party told UGA police they recognized him after reading his description in the Athens Banner-Herald.

''These individuals may have valuable information which may assist in the investigation,'' UGA police said in a news release Friday. ''The University of Georgia Police Department would like to talk with any of these individuals, as well as any other person who might have seen something which would assist in the investigation.''

Those people were described as:

A white, college-age male wearing a baseball cap with a fishing hook on the bill, and carrying a black book bag.

A thinly built white male in his early 20s, approximately 5 feet, 6 inches tall, with thin hair, who was seen leaving a bathroom on the first floor of the Main Library.

A thinly built white male, weighing between 160 and 170 pounds, wearing running shorts, white T-shirt with a Sierra Nevada beer logo, Nike Air Force One athletic shoes, tube socks and a Braves baseball cap, who was outside the Main Library after the fire.

An older white male with gray hair, who appeared to be reading documents on the second floor of the Main Library at about 4:45 p.m.

In addition, police were looking for a young man identifying himself as a recent UGA grad who told a Banner-Herald reporter outside the library Wednesday evening that he had witnessed a bookcase go up in flames.

The fire, reported at 5:52 p.m., was contained to the second-floor storage room and quickly extinguished. The paper-fueled blaze sent heavy smoke billowing throughout the nine-story building, however, causing a degree of smoke damage on each floor, officials said.

The state is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the arsonist.